Editor’s Note: This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out we updated this article for 2019. This is our fifth time ranking the worst places to live in North Carolina.

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If you’re from North Carolina, you know how great you have it there. It’s not quite the deep south, a little bit of east coast, and a lot of awesome. If you just moved here, join the party! You now realize that the Tar Heel State is one of America’s finest states.

You have the mountains, the ocean, and some of the best college basketball teams in the nation. What else could you want? Oh yeah, great barbecue. South Carolina can’t hold a candle to it.

But is it all cheery in North Carolina? Of course not. Just like every other state, North Carolina has its issues. There are some places that are having a hard time right now. The purpose of this post is to use science and data to determine which North Carolina cities need a little tender loving care.

After analyzing 127 of the Tar Heel State’s most populous cities, we came up with this list as the 10 worst places to live in the state:

What? Where are these places you wonder? And before you get all riled up and say we’re picking on small town America, that’s not the case.

We understand there’s a lot of good in every place.

However, according to data (which doesn’t measure things like beauty and ‘friendly people’), there are far better options in the state for making a place home. And the worst place to live in North Carolina? That would be Wadesboro.

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and see how your city fared in 2019.

We broke crime down into violent crime and property crime to give violent crime a larger weight — if you did a simple calculation of all crimes per capita, property crimes are normally 7x more common and really bias that ranking.

Furthermore, only cities with at least 5,000 people were considered — leaving 127 cities.

We then ranked each city from 1 to 127 for all the criteria with a #1 ranking being the worst for the particular criteria.

Next, we averaged the rankings into one “Worst Place To Live Score”.

Finally, we ranked every city on the “Worst Place To Live Score” with the lowest score being the worst city in North Carolina — Wadesboro. Read on for a detailed look at the 10 worst cities in North Carolina.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased.

Unfortunately for the Town of Wadesboro, crime has been an issue for a while now. They need some tough love down there; residents had a 1 in 65 chance of being the victim of a violent crime, meaning raped, attacked or murdered. In fact, for a city of under 6,000 people, the 83 violent crimes in town in 2017 really puts things into perspective.

The unemployment rate in Lexington is a sky high 15.3%, which is the 9th highest in the state. Ouch.

The median income in Lexington is $29,199. That means 31.0% of the population is living below the poverty line. Crime isn’t horrible here, but you have a 1 in 21.2 chance of being the victim of a property crime when you’re within city limits every year.

While the median household income in Selma is higher than other towns on this list, causing it to be lower down on the list of “worst cities”, Selma still has the 22nd worst unemployment rate in the state, as well as the 50th worst crime index.

Therefore, though the average Selma household brings in a higher income, there are fewer people working here than in other cities across the state. It doesn’t help that everyone has to be constantly worried about crime, either.

Monroe is by far, the largest place that’s lousy to live in the state of North Carolina. In fact, it’s one of the largest cities in the Tar Heel State.

There’s a lot more entertainment in Monroe than in the cities we mentioned above, so at least folks here can take their mind off of these statistics. Monroe has the 32nd highest unemployment rate in the state, and homes are valued far below the rest of the state average.

Plus, crime is sky high here, in comparison to the rest of North Carolina. There were four murders here in 2016, and residents have a 1 in 19.1 chance of being robbed. Since the average person has 300 Facebook friends, if everyone you were friends with lived in Monroe, 6 of them would have had something stolen from them last year.

When you’re looking at science and data, the city of Smithfield is the 7th worst place you can live in the state of North Carolina. Let’s see why.

Residents who live in Smithfield, located in Johnston County, have the 43rd most crimes in the state committed against them. Factor in a much-lower income level–per resident–and homes valued around $128,600, and you’ve got yourself a crummy place to live. In terms of comparing it to the rest of North Carolina, that is.

Henderson, NC needs a big hug right now. The unemployment rate here is 16.7%, the median income is just above the poverty line, and the crime is the 33rd highest in the state. You have a 1 in 22.3 chance of being robbed here every year.

You can’t blame them for living in Roxboro since it’s really beautiful, but there are sacrifices you make to live in the boonies. One of them is income.

Not only is the unemployment rate the 2nd highest in the state here (19.7%), the residents in Roxboro earn the smallest household income in the state of North Carolina. At a combined income of $23,250, families of four are barely above the poverty line.

In addition, the crime here is really high for a small city in North Carolina. Roxboro has the 78th highest crime rate in the state.

64 thoughts on “These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In North Carolina For 2019”

I lived in Hamlet N.C from birth until I turned 24 years old and my entire family still lives there. Hamlet is a wonderful place to live and I always feel safe when I go home to visit. Just like every other town there are bad people and Hamlet does have some. For the most part people in Hamlet and Rockingham are good people and a tight knit community. Just because the Facebook page doesn’t have a lot of likes means nothing. No one in my family has ever been robbed in Hamlet or Rockingham and I will always feel safe there.

Lol. Hamlet? Growing up there I was assaulted multiple times, had a knife pulled on me in school for lunch money and even had a gun pulled on me and robbed several times. And I grew up on the better side of the tracks. Never had anything like this in the next 30 years in my current town. After getting my degree, I couldn’t wait to leave.

How could you leave Laurinburg (with the highest unemployment in the state and now also without a middle school in the city limits) off the list? Oh and did I mention the high poverty rate, even higher taxes (yes that’s mostly the county govt, but that also needs to be considered), and all the raw sewage that is spilled into the water table every time it rains and the fact that ther eis nothing to do here but eat fast food and go to church, which a good number of people go outside of the county for anyway. And the crime rate is not as high because noone got shot last summer, but the summer before we had like 4-5 murders. And you leave out the $85 per person extra tax that just got passed that is going to raise a lot of people’s property taxes to MORE than a week’s worth of full time pay. At my house this tax “fee” is going to raise the property tax by 45%. Then factor in that our new hope is a Zaxby’s where even the manager will striggle to hit $30k/yr. How much did they pay you to keep them off of your list?

Wow my city is #1. We have high crime? That’s news to me. Someone is very sloppy in their research. I live pretty nicely. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. People who live in our county are very nice and polite. Has the person who wrote this actually visited these places? I’m guessing…no.

You are totally right about my hometown of Whiteville!, it is horrible and there is nothing to do here but do drugs and rob people, the minimum wage is 7.25 and with taxes and child support I end up paying my employer to work there, I’d be better off sitting on my ass like everyone else in the city and living off the government!

I think Whiteville has great potential. The fact that higher-end restaurants like the Southern Kitchen and Sophie’s have been able to thrive, and that the downtown is really pretty busy are good indications that this is a place where good things could happen. Yes, minimum wage is $7.25, but that’s true everywhere in NC! If only people would support their downtown a bit more, it would attract more businesses, and create more jobs in the process.

Whiteville has always had a lot of potential, most of which has been blocked repeatedly by the criminal element who could not tolerate any outside eyes on their affairs. If anyone came in from outside, they might notice all the money laundering (like the unfortunate preacher in The Devil in Pew Number Seven) or the misuse of public funds (our water and sewer projects).

Many things have changed for the better in the last 5 years. As I said in my other comment, the “good old boy” system is no longer in place, and this gives everyone a better chance at succeeding. From all the construction going on, you can tell things are really happening downtown, and this little town is about to experience a new economic boom. Just saying.

I’ve lived in Eden most of my life. I did move to Rock Hill,SC for 10+ years & it was a shock to me when I moved back in 2005 at how many of my highschool friends that were going places are addicted to crack cocaine and narcotic pain medications. Really pitiful situations. But my immediate family all live in Eden & I’ve always felt safe. U just have to stay out of certain neighborhoods and/or areas.

My wife is a teacher at these underfunded schools in Dunn, what the article does not mention is the awesome teachers that we do have in this community that does great with the kids they have… we have an All American City and despite the high crime rate which you will find in most cities today, I have raised five children and would not trade Dunn for any of the the top ten cities mentioned in the best category, we have a small hometown atmosphere that attracts big name corporations like Food Lion and Rooms to Go. My family loves Dunn, NC. Please bring your statistics and just visit with us for a week, I am sure you will rethink your standings. Like any other city, we have our hiccups, but Dunn, NC is one of North Carolina’s best kept secrets, we really are a great community and a place I am thankful to have raised my children.

I totally agree. I was raised in erwin. For those that dont know where erwin is we are basically the same city. Although I left the area when my husband whose is in the army was transfered. My whole family still lives there and love it. Yes you have to drive to go to the movies a few mins and mall. But Ive lived in big cities like Indianapolis and it still took is 20 mins to get to the movies or mall. So I think its a fair trade off to have our kids in a safe place with small town values.

Wow, both of you must have lived in a completely different Dunn and Erwin than I did. The schools there are a joke and as far as small town values, you must be referring to the darker side of the values. The “good ol boy club” and the Christians women’s club values because if you aren’t apart of either of those then there’s no one to get your kids in the good classes with the one or two good teachers in the school. Dunn is a black hole where only the lucky get to leave and Erwin is its crackhead laden twin with old money mentality and no future

This site is made for rich fancy folks who think their high class its not about the town it’s about who the person is me I love my small town USA they can kiss my ass lol its how u grow up that’s not on a stats sheet

I am astonished by the accuracy of your report. You knocked the ball out of the park. After all the bad, thanks for mentioning the good. I have a thorough knowledge of the towns of North Carolina. I have completed four Cycle North Carolinas (bike ride mountains to the coast), and had an ambulance company for eight years that transported patients from UNC Hospitals to all parts of the state. I agree 110 percent.
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Not online, I can tell you a hilariously funny Forest City story. “Dog Town”. Thanks for your great work.

This article is terrible. There are a lot of great attributes to each of these towns that weren’t taken into effect. I don’t know about many of the others, but based off of what I know about Kinston and Goldsboro [which was pretty close to being on the list] not all of these have been properly vetted. Kinston has much more than a Walmart, they have a growing downtown with a large following for the Mother Earth Brewery. And Goldsboro has a huge military population which has contributed a lot to the town and the state. And there are towns that are worse that could have been put on that list.

Also, in 2013, Gallup-Healthways surveyed hundreds of thousands of Americans in 189 metropolitan areas using many of the same qualifications you did (they used financial, employment, health, and social indicators) and came up with Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton ranking #5 nationally as one of the most miserable areas in the nation. I didn’t see any of those cities on your list. The closest you got was Statesville.

I completely disagree and will not be sharing on Fb to perpetuate your biased and practically unfounded opinions.

I’ve lived in both Hamlet & Rockingham. They are horrible little towns. There are generations of the same families living there. No one wants to leave or get an education. Also, the powers that be won’t let any companies move in to help the economy. The county is a black hole.

I was looking over the data list that was compiled of all the cities/towns in North Carolina and there were barely any places noted that are west of Asheville. I saw Waynesville, but there are about over 2 hours more west of Asheville that definitely have statistics. Towns that I know have unemployment rates that are high and low market values for housing. I appreciate the work you did to compile this information, but if you are going to do it for all towns in North Carolina, do ALL the towns since there are many more you left off.

Onion Light. No surprise that a Triangle start up doesn’t include any of their own in this “report”. As others have mentioned, there is much more to a place than city based stats. And until you actually go to any of these places, it is unfair to lump them in this article. Finally, great way to kick rural areas. How does that actually help anyone? I really like my 12 minute commute, low stress, and low cost of living in one of the towns listed. I suppose you have that short travel time also, from your parent’s basement up to their computer in the kitchen.

Funny, I thought Dunn would be higher on the list. I was born and raised there. School system is horrendous, crime is bad, drugs rampant, horribly entitled minority, and full of pseudo conservative christian “10 cent millionaires”. The only positive that I can see, is there are a few good places to work in and around town, and they have a good mayor. It’s laughable that this town actually has a tourism authority for it’s one museum. All other “attractions” (using that term loosely) are found miles out of town. If you’re lucky enough to stay in one of the town’s few acceptable hotels…(the one’s not infested with bedbugs or about to be condemned) you’ll pay a hefty occupancy tax to fund the ever growing I95 billboard portfolio.

What in the world were your criteria? Obviously you didn’t grow up in the warm nest of a caring small town. There’s some charming architecture, especially the smashingly wonderful Victorian train station. The Main Street was a movie set. Someone appreciated it! Hamlet schools were very good. The town has a well established hospital, and has had one for 100 years, along with a nursing school. Extreme cases could easily be sent to teaching hospitals. Fire and police protection was good. Everyone knew everyone and looked out for each other. As kids, we had tremendous freedom, especially once you could ride a bicycle. I always felt safe. Why not look for the positive? There’s a lot there in all of these places.

Curlylocks, Hamlet schools are absolutely dreadful. I was educated in them. My family’s kids go to these schools. I’ve worked in them. They’re drastically under-funded and under-staffed, and sadly, some of that is due to poor distribution of funds at the local level, as well as under-funding from state and federal. Rockingham is no better, with the high school being the worst excuse for an educational institution I have ever seen in my life. That school has a massive drug and alcohol problem in the student body.
As for the architecture, yes. We have some beautiful examples of Victorian architecture. I wouldn’t use the train station as a representative example, however. I live on 74. Disrepair does not even begin to describe what has happened to what was once absolutely picturesque when I was a child. Covering up problems by ignoring the flaws and seeing what was instead of what is – that’s the Richmond County I have lived in most of my life. And the one I am working hard to leave – permanently.

You know what? I’ve been around the world and haven’t found anywhere more beautiful and safer than Forest City. I raised three boys here and my family has owned multiple businesses here over the last 50 years. Your study is BS.

Gastonia has FAR more crime than most of these places mentioned, so it really makes me wonder about your criteria… I know people who live in Tarboro and love it – have heard good things about Forest City, and Statesville is as exciting as a root canal, but the terrible high crime they talk about must be the drug busts in the South side, since violent crime is very rare. The places they list as ‘good’ are all high rent and expensive homes – and hordes of Yankees who moved there and ‘improved things’ like the terrible traffic.

Rutherford County is the WORST place to live or die in all of North Carolina. Its a death sentence on those who depend on their county health care and services related to health care. Its a death sentence!

Why would you have a survey like this? I moved from Asheville…yes Asheville back to my hometown of Forest City. I got tired of the unfriendly people on Asheville, the traffic, the incredibly high cost of living, etc. I love being back in “Small Town Friendly.”

Whiteville is the most dangerous place listed because it puts such a pretty face on the absolute utter depths of depravity. There is no way to expose the corruption in this tiny version of 1800’s Sicily, because so many people are in on it. Its like one big mob family. That’s why they were so effective at blocking the Colcor investigation. Its always been what they call a “closed shop” in criminal terms. Since no one can point fingers, murderers walk free and child abuse is not investigated. This has been going on forever. One of the most noted citizens, who’s name graces a public building in town, openly had a child with his own daughter. Its a great town for late night high stakes gambling, cheap hookers and gun running.

I’m not from Whiteville, but I conduct business there. I can tell you the “good old boy” system is no longer in place. It has been both easier and harder to get things done (easier because you now have to meet all code/requirements of the law so you know what is expected, harder because you can’t bribe anyone if you don’t), but it is no longer the corrupt little town it once was. The past couple of town managers did a great job at making things more transparent and efficient. Unfortunately, some people like to rehash the bad things over and over and turn a blind eye to the good things, especially when they didn’t come up with them.

Coffee shops are opening, and would you believe it has become a gourmet destination? One of the best restaurants I ever ate at is located in the heart of downtown Whiteville and is doing very well indeed. Who knew, right?

I don’t know who you talked to at the EDC. I haven’t personally dealt with them, so I can’t talk for them, but when I went to city hall, they were all like “how can we help you?” and when what I wanted to do didn’t quite fit what they allowed in their city ordinances, they told me what to do to have that modified in a reasonably timely manner so I could move my business there, and they helped me through the process. All in all, a very pro-business attitude, and a bunch of good people working there. Plus, you can’t beat the low rent and proximity to bigger cities, and the train is running again. I would give them another try. And not to open another can of worms, but EDC is “Columbus County”, whereas City Hall is “City of Whiteville”. But I really don’t have any problems with anyone there. Maybe they just had a bad day.

You haven’t considered some of the environmental factors. Some mountain cities should rank high due to the clean water and air and short hikes to stunning views. Jefferson in the high country is a good example. At the poor end are towns where the prisons, hog sewage lagoons, and pulp mills are concentrated. Just follow your nose to those places which have some of the worst air in the country. Most are producing warehouse meats for out-of-state producers like Smithfield pork and Purdue chicken. One horrible neighbor is across the state line from South of the Border. I hope that a future hurricane will destroy the tacky billboards there. You would think that one billboard would be enough to announce their presence, but SOB seems to think that they need hundreds.

I grew up in Southern Pines. Lived in Boone and Asheville. Now live in Morganton. I would agree with a lot of this review. Morganton is the worst place I have ever lived in every way listed above. I hate it here and will be moving asap and never looking back. Barely a friend to have around here, no jobs, poor attitude, people tip an avg of 5% The latin and black population here are far more friendly than any redneck you’ll meet. SO much ego here for no reason at all. Ive watched a dozen businesses close in the past year. Its so depressing.

This subject has been in play since before Hurricane Florence. We have had another major pollution spill from factory hog farms in SE NC by just adding water. From Duplin County, greedy growers found a way to pollute the Pamlico, Cape Fear and Onslow County waters, and the regulators have been bought off, setting the scene for another pollution disaster, and another,and another… If you don’t include Beulaville, Kenansville, Warsaw, Rose Hill and a few other pig manure towns in nearby Sampson and Lenoir Counties as unliveable, your list is lacking.